Hills East Tennis Falls to Cold Spring Harbor in LI Championship

The Hills East boys tennis team fell for the first time this season as Cold Spring Harbor edged out a 4-3 win to clinch the Long Island championship at the Wheatley School on Wednesday afternoon.

The first doubles team of Alex Tropiano and Jensen Reiter for Cold Spring Harbor (19-0) defeated Zain Ali and Eric Bertuglia of Hills East (20-1), 6-4, 6-3, for the fourth and decisive point. It was the lone doubles pairing the Thunderbirds lose on the day.

“The better team won today and they just played better than we did," Hills East head coach Tom Depelteau said. "I think we gave them as big a scare as they’ve had, but our initial goal was to win the Suffolk County , which we did." 

Cold Spring Harbor took a 2-0 lead in the team scores with wins in the third singles and first singles for Conor Dauer and Josh Levine, respectively. Dauer defeated Eric Teplitz, 6-0, 6-0, and Levine defeated Kyle Alber, 6-0, 6-3.

Alex Firciuti and Jeremy Schnaff logged the first team point for Hills East with a win in third doubles, 6-0, 6-3, over Rich Pisano and Tim Schneir. Cold Spring Harbor led 3-1 after Eric Ambrosio defeated Brett Teplitz in second singles, 6-3, 6-1.

The Thunderbirds kept their championship hopes alive with consecutive wins in the fourth doubles and second doubles matches. First, Alex Schnaff ad Jeff Cherkin defeated Alex Fontini and Brett Titcomb, 6-3, 6-4, followed by a win for Chris Hunt and Sam Goldberg over Conor Mullins and John Paris, 6-3, 6-4.

The stage was set for Tropiano and Reiter, one of the top doubles teams on Long Island and arguably the country, to come out on top. Ali and Bertuglia hung close, but the Seahawks hoisted the title once again for its fourth straight Long Island championship.

“We’ve had an unbelievable season and no one has been able to match us,” Cold Spring Harbor head coach Paul Poschmann said. “This team will be the same next year as we lose one singles player and one doubles team, so we are going to be right back here next year for number five.”

Hills East finished the regular season undefeated for the second year in a row, but the result was the same as in 2010. After defeating Ross School in the Suffolk County finals on Tuesday , they could not sneak past the talented Cold Spring Harbor squad.

“My boys played their best game," Depelteau said, "but in the end, the Cold Spring Harbor doubles team just played better to win it all."

Hills East will graduate five seniors from this years’ team, including the likes of Brett Teplitz, Chris Hunt, Sam Goldberg and Alex Schnaff. The team figures to compete for a third straight Suffolk title and potentially snap the unprecendented Cold Spring Harbor run in 2012.